Police say a four-year-old boy who fell 10 stories from an apartment balcony in the Bronx is in critical condition Saturday.
The incident took place at Noble Mansion on Noble Avenue in the Van Nest neighborhood just before 2:30 p.m.
“It’s terrible. I cry. I don’t feel good,” said Carlota Barrara, who lives in the same building and witnessed the fall while she was in the building’s outdoor parking lot. Barrara was not the only person shaken up, and told NY1 she felt helpless.
“I was cleaning my car seat, and I saw the baby, but I can’t do nothing!” said Barrara.
For Barrara, the disturbing incident proved to be especially traumatic because it reminded her of a personal tragedy, involving her daughter Miriam.
Barrara’s own daughter fell out of a window decades ago, Barrara said — “1970,” she added.
Narcy Arevalo said when her sister Miriam was just 9 years old, she fell from a window where they lived in the Bronx and dropped five floors to her death.
“We were at home,” Arevalo said. “She looked out the window, she sat at the window, she looked up. She said she heard somebody. She looked up and she lost balance, and she fell down.”
Arevalo offered one suggestion on how the balconies at her mom’s current building could be made safe to avoid any future tragedies.
“I think one solution can be to have a net over the terrace,” Arevalo said. “So it wouldn’t be open like that. It looks beautiful, but it’s not safe. Accidents happen. It can happen in a minute.”
At this time, the NYPD tells NY1 it does not suspect any criminality played a role in the child’s fall.